


Our True Ohana

by ThatwasJustaDream



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Community: 1_million_words, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-09-28
Packaged: 2017-12-15 13:39:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatwasJustaDream/pseuds/ThatwasJustaDream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written as part of a Bingo on the 1_million_words community. This picks up after two recent family fics, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/748698/chapters/1596274">one in which Danny's family invades,</a> and the other <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/748698/chapters/1532589">in which Steve announces he might want babies with Danny.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost

**Lost**

Danny woke to an empty bed. No surprise; it had taken months to convince Steve to loll one morning a week. The minute he accomplished it, Sunday had become one of Danny’s favorite things.

This wasn’t Sunday, though, so the sheets were cool and Steve was probably back from his run or his swim already. Danny had both past experiential evidence and solid olfactory proof for his theory: The scent of soap and humid air from the bathroom, coffee wafting up the stairs.

Something else was lingering in that feast for the nose; sugary and raw and…. batter? On a Tuesday?

He was about to be lobbied. And if Steve was going to appeal to Danny’s most basic urges in pursuit of his desires, how could he not enjoy the spoils? It didn’t mean he had to say yes. He wasn’t sure yet he would, or even could. Pancakes and coffee shouldn’t dictate your decision to have another child. Or two. Or… multiples, maybe? Oh, God, what was Steve thinking? 

Was he, really, thinking at all? 

~~~*~~~

“Don’t you miss the feel of a newspaper in your hands?” 

Danny asked it as he filled his coffee cup, Steve head-down at the table, looking supremely uninterested in anything but the local news app he was flicking through on his iPad. 

“No. I like the trees that didn’t get chopped down for my morning update.”

Danny opened his mouth to note that those things ran on electricity and not squirrels on a wheel. Then he shut it and finished pouring. This wasn’t the time for that. 

Steve was on his feet before Danny set down the pot, spooning butter onto the flat, cast-iron skillet, dumping the rest of the container of blueberries into a bowl of pancake mix.

“How did I rate you making me breakfast?” 

He expected Steve to immediately fess up to bribery. 

“I thought maybe we could talk. You know, before work…”

There it was. Danny could let the next words roll out of Steve’s mouth or….

“Aw geez. I can’t do this. I can’t let you freaking cook for me, which – let’s face it- you never do and pretend I don’t know where this is going or that I’m ready to talk about it in a serious way. I’m not ready. Not even close.”

Steve didn’t answer, which was even scarier than the fact that he’d been ready to dive into this. He grabbed the spatula and nodded, back still toward Danny, flicking it at the corners of the batter as he waited for the pancakes to set up enough to be flipped.

“Hey, I didn’t say no. I said I’m not ready to discuss it,” Danny said. “Which, if you consider the fact that you only sprang this on me nine hours ago and I’ve been sleeping for seven of them, is not all that surprising, is it?”

“You wouldn’t need to think about it,” Steve’s voice was heavy but open. “If you wanted it, you’d know. You don’t. It’s okay…”

Danny started to object, but before he could a plate was dropping down in front of him along with a carafe of actual, one hundred percent maple syrup heated on the stove and not in the microwave just for him and when he returned to the real world, licking his fingers, Steve was sitting down with his own plate, giving Danny a ‘you’re a pig’ grin.

“Tell me,” Danny said, and Steve’s grin disappeared. “I’m sure you don’t want a kid or kids just because your sister is dating a lion tamer…”

“Snake handler,” Steve said. “In a circus. Geez, Danny I only told you last night…”

“Fine. Snake handler, lion tamer, whatever. That’s not why you want to make babies with me. So… tell me why. Please. So I can think about it. Because I promise I will. Think about it.”

Steve was in the middle of bite number one of his own pancakes, so it took a minute to get an answer.

“I was lost,” he said eventually, carving out another bite with his fork. “When I came home. I had questions and anger and that was it. I didn’t belong to anyone or any place. Now? I still have questions, but I also have my home back, a career… and you. I’m not lost anymore. And I want it all. I want our own family. I want my whole life... however that turns out. ”

“Holy crap,” Danny sat back. “You’re not kidding.”

“Nope.” Steve said, popping bite number two into his mouth.

“Okay,” Danny said. “I respect that. But you have to give me time, too. So I can give you an honest answer. Deal?”

“Yeah,” Steve reached and ran a maple-flavored thumb over his ear, kissing him lightly.

Danny had some thinking to do.

Steve might have it all figured out, but now he was the one feeling more than a little lost.


	2. Granite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny contemplates, and then a deal is sealed.

Danny double clicked the key fob and got a quick honk back from the Camaro saying it was locked.

He left the parking lot and slipped over a fence onto the Pali Lookout, walking past where most tourists stopped, out onto the riskier, rockier stretch. He knew how hard some people would laugh, the idea of him coming here to sit on a ledge and think – the city boy staring out at the lush, windward coastline until he was in a trance. Hey, what the hell? It might be as New-Agey as he would ever get, but it worked for him.

He’d come out here when he first got to town, to unwind after fights with Rachel in a productive way – with calming silence instead of a drink or three. He found himself returning when he started having unanticipated feelings for his partner. And, he’d spent a ton of time here in the weeks before he’d moved into Steve’s house. 

He knew these rocks well.

He found a flat spot and sat, eyes scanning the horizon, brain letting ‘the questions’ in. 

Did he want more kids?

Sure. Shit, why wouldn’t he? If they’d lasted, he and Rachel…

That wasn’t the point, though, was it? Did he want kids with….

The man was crazy, nearly certifiable. That wouldn’t change, because even having children doesn’t alter the truly reckless- not really. Sure, he would drive more carefully when they were in the car, but Steve would still be Steve.

Danny closed his eyes and let the only question that mattered roll through him.

Could they be forever? The two of them? He had believed he and Rachel were forever; written in stone. If so, it had been hardened lava – fire-tempered, but brittle, abrasive and full of holes. Easy for time to wear down and wash away. 

What were he and Steve?

Granite. 

There are dozens of kinds of rocks, but it was the first and only word to pop into his brain. 

Granite’s hard, difficult to chip and virtually impossible to break or melt. Mountains are made of granite. Some of the pyramids are faced with granite. Granite weathers beautifully. 

Danny opened his eyes and squinted at the brightness, and the tight knot of anticipation blooming somewhere between his heart and his gut. He was extra careful walking back to the car. Those life decisions… they can make you a little woozy.

~~*~~

“McGarrett…” Steve picked up his office phone and put it to his ear without even looking at it, but he glanced there now that he heard only silence and wind through a car window. 

His heart rose at the number on the display. 

“Danny? Where are you?”

“On my way back from talking with the owner of that motel-- the cold case I’m giving another push on. I made a pit stop afterward. Hey…. can you do lunch? Come meet me at home?”

Steve started to ask a question, then looked at the clock.

“Yeah. Gimme half an hour.”

He beat him there, though, and was waiting, perched on the sofa, nerves jumping a little when Danny finally walked into the living room. Steve tried to ask but couldn’t. He settled for sitting back and shrugging silently – a non-verbal ‘so? tell me…’

“Yes,” Danny said. “Let’s do it.”

“Yes?” He was on his feet fast, feeling confused. He took a few random steps, just about in a circle, a hand running over his head as his body absorbed his surprise at those four little words. “It’s only been five hours. You said to give you some time…”

“Turns out that’s all I needed. Just a little breathing room…”

“Yeah?” Steve closed the distance between them, pulling him in and then pushing him back a step to stare down into his eyes, like he was looking for proof beyond words.

“Yeah,” Danny said. “You were right. For once. It is a simple question. Isn’t it?”

Steve leaned in for a kiss, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He looked relieved and… something else. Now Danny was the one staring.

“What?”

“Up,” Steve gave him a push toward the stairs. “Our room. Now.”

“Aw geez… we don’t have to…. It’d be enough, you know, a nice kiss and a ‘thank you for agreeing to have a family with me,’ that’d … suffice nicely….”

“I could give you all that in the office. I wanna celebrate.” Steve gave him a second push and then passed him, taking Danny’s hand to drag him up step-by-step, reaching in to grab at his shirt and pull it out as they went until they were both chuckling, Danny pretending to try to retreat. “Why else did you call me home?”

“For privacy,” Danny mock-barked, slapping at the hand reaching for his pants. “That’s why. And I can undress myself, thank you.”

“So get the fuck to it, D….”

~~*~~

For all the mad rush up the stairs, Steve shifted into low gear once they fell in bed, and Danny surrendered to the lure of a slow roll in the sheets. He got long, gentle, sucking kisses in return, sweet, slicked fingers teasing him inside and out until he felt loose and dizzy and out of breath.

“We’re gonna be late… getting... back to …work.”

“Yeah, we are…” Steve shifted and urged Danny around, putting him just how he wanted him, on his side with Steve’s chest tight to his back. “And, by the way… you say things in bed like ‘we’re gonna be late’ and I’m the one who’s not romantic?”

Steve gave a happy grunt at the stuttered ‘oh, _fuck_ ’ he got instead of an answer as he pushed inside him, the way Danny’s arm flew back and around him as they found a rhythm.

“This is the easy part, babe. Deciding. You know that, right?”

“I do,” Steve nuzzled in, nipping and sucking at Danny’s neck and shoulder, fighting the urge to leave a half dozen purple marks that each said ‘mine’. “I’ll make you proud. Promise.”

As many fears as Danny might have, that was the one thing he knew was true: Now that it was on, Steve would give it the usual hundred and twenty percent. And if fate was good to them, he'd never have to face it alone again- the world that seemed to like to throw him curves. Someone truly had his back.

"Aw hell," he said when it was over and Steve was warm and heavy behind him, barely awake.

"What?"

"I'm only going to worry about you more, now. And soon... there'll be at least one more person to fret on. Maybe two. Right?"

"Stop it," Steve tugged him closer. "At least wait 'til they're on the way to worry about them, okay?"

"Yeah. I will," Danny said, but they both knew that was a lie.


	3. I know...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A crucial decision is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this story is officially pretty (very) AU. It's sooo unlikely, but also only six more chapters, so hope those who are enjoying it can suspend their disbelief. :)

“She has the crazy eyes. Like… all googly.”

“Danny, what the hell?” Steve had been about to take a sip of coffee, but set the cup back down hard on the diner table instead. “She does not. She has a gentle, maternal way about her. Very sweet. Kind.”

They had all met for breakfast before work. Kono and Chin were wearing expressions that said it had sounded like a good idea at the time.

“You, Steven, are the last person who should attempt to gauge anyone’s … maternalness.”

“Yeah, and why’s that?”

“Because you have no template. No good model to base a valid opinion on. You have Doris.”

“Oh, no,” Chin murmured and glanced at Kono. He’d been trying to avoid the thunderclouds forming in her eyes at the content of the conversation. Now he saw them again, and didn't know where to look.

“You’re impossible, you know that?” Steve said. “We have a checklist. A very specific set of criteria drawn up with the help of a doctor, and she fits every one – both for being our surrogate and for being the egg donor.”

“Yes. Except for the googly eyes. The look that says ‘I live up Highway 93 a ways, but I’m originally from MARS.’”

Steve shook his head and drank his coffee, fuming, and Danny looked at Chin, having caught it; the pained, almost teary look on Kono’s face, and the ‘what can I say, it’s them’ glance he was giving her in return.

“What?” Danny said.

“I...” Kono got up and tossed some cash on the table. “I’m going out for some fresh air. See you out there.”

“Maybe we could ask your ex-not-my-girlfriend,” Danny said and Steve nodded in what was clearing derisive, mock agreement.

“Oh, yeah, absolutely. Let’s do that. She’ll only laugh so hard it’ll kick up a storm that’ll cause a tsunami. The cleanup will be in the billions of dollars and I’ll make sure the governor assigns you to be in charge of it.”

“I thought you said she was good with me coming out the victor, babe?”

“I said she’d accepted it. I didn’t say ‘good’. She doesn’t do a happy dance when your name comes up.”

“When does my…” Danny was reaching for his wallet, breakfast clearly nearly over. “Are you still seeing her? Like, meeting for lunch or something?”

“Twice. In six months.”

“And you didn’t mention…”

“As friends, Danny. I’ve asked you to have kids with me. I think you’re safe losing the jealousy.”

“It’s not jealousy, it’s….” Danny stopped, catching another spark of disapproval in Chin’s eyes. “Again, what? Please, buddy, tell me? Why is it Kono was just looking like we popped her birthday balloons and you seem to want to reach out and smack us both?”

“If I were the hitting type….” Chin let the thought go and paused, then went on. “I know you two are hyper-focused on making the right choice for a surrogate, but might I suggest that your tunnel vision has left you blind and made you hurt the feelings of someone important to us all?”

Steve and Danny looked at each other and all irritation on their faces was gone, replaced by a look of ‘oh, please tell me you have some idea what he’s talking about?’

The light bulb went on in Steve’s eyes first. 

“Kono,” He said.

“Bingo,” Chin sat back, smiling. “We have a winner.”

“Are you serious?” Danny looked dumbfounded. “This is… so not a small thing. Why would she even consider…”

“You’re saying she can put her life on the line for you pretty much every day but she can’t do this?” Chin asked. “And you’re still missing the big picture, guys. What do we always claim we are?”

“Ohana,” Danny said, his voice matching his expression now. “We’d… we’d all be related to them. The babies. We’d be a true ohana.”

“Why didn’t she say anything?” Steve asked. 

“Because it’s one thing to say ‘I’d be honored’ and another to say ‘pick me, pick me’,” Chin offered. “I’m sure you can hear the difference…”

Steve was out of his chair and on his way to the diner door so fast, Danny had to look to see where he’d gone.

“What are you waiting for?” Steve gave him an impatient wave.

“Yeah,” Danny flung some cash, too, and joined him. “C’mon, before she changes her mind.”

~~*~~

“Have you really thought about this?” Steve asked and Kono nodded. “It’s such a life changing …”

“I know,” Kono smiled and sniffled. 

She’d been waiting, leaning against her car when they came out and surrounded her – as if she’d known they’d have figured it out by the time she saw them coming.

“There could be health ramifications,” Danny said. “There aren’t any guarantees it’ll be easy…”

“Kind of know that too,” She ran a finger under her eye, nodding. “Listen, it’s a small island and none of us are going anywhere. Right? If you can think of anyone who’d be a better choice to be the mother of your kids I’ll back out, but if not… I’m in. If you want to take some time to talk about it…”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Steve said.

“Hell, we’d be honored,” Danny finished.

“Yeah,” Kono gave them each a kick with her boot. “I know. And you should be. Oh, by the way this is all gonna be about doctor’s offices and petri dishes and if you make one joke to the contrary about how we’ll…”

“Uh, no, no worries,” Danny said, hands raised as if in surrender as Steve looked away, arms folded, grinning. “We’re both officially out of smart ass mode for the rest of the week, I promise.”

“Well that’s something,” Chin said, heading for his car. “Everybody wins. C’mon, let’s get to work before this turns into a group hug we’ll never live down….”


	4. Fireworks

It was a Friday morning when they got the call that the doctor was ready to proceed whenever they were. Lunchtime found them walking in to the sight of Kono in her street clothes, doing a headstand in the corner of his exam room.

“What the…. _what_ are you doing?” Danny waggled her ankles hard enough to convince her to join them in the upright world.

“I heard what this process is costing you, and it’s enough for a very high end motorcycle,” Kono looked stressed, the frown so deep it was wrinkling her forehead. “So I’m trying to make sure those two stay where they were just put.”

That had been the agreement; one egg with Steve’s name on it and one with Danny’s. Whatever happened next, happened. They’d tried to keep as many of the business and insurance details off of her shoulders as possible, in hopes of keeping her from feeling any pressure. They’d also silently guessed she’d quizzed the doc the whole time she was undergoing the procedure, anyway.

“Thought we agreed – no stress? At least… not so soon.” Steve led her to the chairs along the far wall, and they sat and let Danny do the pacing for all three of them. “Easy for me to say, right? I’m not the one who just went through…. Whatever you went through. Was it…”

“Not a biggie,” she shook her head. “’til it kind of hit me what was happening.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, looking at her, nodding, and something warm and sad-happy in his voice made Danny stop pacing and watch them both. 

“Stop it, both of you. Now, or I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” Kono asked, blinking fast and looking away a little.

“I’ll…” Danny pointed a finger at them, reached with his other hand for his phone. “… take pictures of you both getting gooey, and show them to Chin. And the governor. And Max. And…”

“Here’s something I thought of while I was on the table,” Kono changed the topic entirely. “How much did you each weigh when you were born?” 

“Seven pounds something. Two ounces. I think.” Danny said and Kono nodded and looked at Steve, who was wincing and shaking his head ever so slightly.

“Not sure you really want me to answer that,” he said and she looked up at the ceiling.

“Yup,” Kono said. “That’s about what I’d guessed.”

Danny did get some pictures to document the moment, but he didn’t share them.

~~*~~

The next Friday they were case-free, and everyone slid out early. Steve and Danny had dinner and then threw some small beach chairs in the car and went to the Hilton to sit in the sand and watch the Aloha Friday parade of sailboats and the fireworks. 

Danny watched the crowd as much as the light show, enjoying the ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhhing’ of people who hadn’t seen it dozens of times before. Every so often he snuck a glimpse left to look at Steve, who was obviously a billion miles away.

“You’re picturing coming here with them, aren’t you?” Danny asked and Steve gave a noncommittal shrug, eyes still on the sky. “You are, aren’t you? You’re totally imagining us with one each strapped to us, and you’re thinking it’ll be this perfect family moment with them sleeping and drooling on us. When in reality, we won’t have a moment’s peace, because you with a baby on your shoulder? We’ll be knee deep in aunties and cute girls and…”

“Stop trying to suck the air out of my daydream,” Steve said and Danny let a couple more fireworks go by before he said more. 

“You need to be prepared, you know, in case this doesn’t take. Anything could happen. If it doesn’t work, Kono could have seconds thoughts and we might need to start from scratch. And…”

“The glass is half full, Danny,” Steve said, and Danny made a face that was only a slight rotation from rolling his eyes. “A girl and a boy. A brother and a step-sister for Grace….”

“So… the girl is yours? You’ve already decided how this whole thing’s playing out?”

“Glass half full. About to be all full,” Steve said and Danny gave up, just reached over for a quick kiss and settled in to watch the rest of the show. 

There was no convincing a reckless man to maybe shield himself a little - not even his heart.

~~*~~

They’d only been home a few minutes, barely had the beach gear away and their shoes off when they heard the knock on the front door. 

“Got it,” Steve said and Danny was hitting the kitchen lights, closing the downstairs up for the night when he heard the surprise in Steve’s voice. 

“Kono? What’s ….”

“Hey, I can’t come in, I’m half asleep on my feet. Danny nearby?”

Danny got there and saw her soft, sleepy smile, the way she bit her lip when she whipped something out of her jeans pocket and he stood half-behind Steve, entirely afraid to look.

“That’s not a thermometer, is it?” Steve asked and Kono waggled the plastic stick, dancing in place.

“Pink and pink,” She said, giving a little fist-pump and a whoop. “Baby on board. Maybe two! We’ll know soon…”

They had a three-way hug and then Kono pulled loose and let them enjoy one together, heading back toward her car, feet dragging. 

“I’m going to go sleep for about forty hours. I might be late Monday. Some people get sick, right? I only knew ‘cause I felt like I hit a wall… Geez, if your girl’s a kicker, McGarrett, I’m coming to your office every single time to have you talk her down.”

“Let us drive you home…” Danny started for his car keys but she waved him off. 

“I’m good, brah. Go celebrate.”

It wasn’t until they were in bed, silent but wide awake, that Danny really heard what she’d said to Steve, and he couldn’t help wondering if the two of them both were maybe channeling some message from the universe that he was blocking with his instinct for caution. Maybe it was time for _him_ to let down the shields.

“We’re going to be fine,” Steve said, like he was reading his thoughts via his body tension as he held him.

He closed his eyes and pictured the fireworks, and thought they should name them both something bright and beautiful, names with some color in them. And with that image in his head, Danny let go. Or tried to.

Glass entirely full. Right?


	5. Well, this isn't good....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is being written as part of the now even further back in time June Bingo on LJ. :). So a reminder, the title of each chapter is a prompt in the Bingo and not me torturing them for no good reason! Ha. But you knew things couldn't keep going so smoothly...

"How much longer will you be able to surf with me?" Grace asked.

It took a moment for the question to register with Kono as they dragged their boards up the sand toward the house. It also made her reflexively glance down at her gently swelling belly even before the words sank in. It was a sight she so wasn't used to yet.

She looked at Grace and saw the little flash of worry on her face and smiled to reassure her.

"Doctor says I can surf as long as it's comfortable, if I keep to the calmer water. I think... a few more weeks, for sure. But even after that, we can still body surf and swim together. You'll help me stay in shape for the big day, right?"

"Oh, yes," Grace said, the worry evaporating. "I love how much time we spend together now."

It had just kind of happened very organically; Kono was around for dinner more often, then for entire days during Grace's weekends with them. They'd bought an Aerobed for the guest room, which Grace happily crashed on sometimes, so Kono could stay. They all hung out and swam or surfed until it was time to light up the grill and before they'd know it, Monday was back again. 

It was increasingly clear that the babies would be born into a loosely organized, extended family unit, and Kono's role wouldn't end with leaving the hospital. The specifics? They'd work them out later.

"There'll be so many arms reaching for them," Danny had said. "We'll be lucky if they ever learn to walk."

"Like little princes whose feet never touch the ground," Kono had laughed. "They'll probably swim before they walk."

Danny's jury was out on that one. He said he'd get back to them on it.

Kono looked up at the house and saw Steve and Danny there, and something jumped out at her, made her stop. 

"What's wrong?" Grace stopped too.

"Nothing, uh..." 

Kono tried not to be obvious; she snuck glances in between pretending to look at something on the sole of her foot. The glances confirmed that the way Steve was standing, head hooked over Danny's shoulder, sinking into him -- it looked different than their average Saturday morning hug. Sorrowful.

"Grace, why don't we drag our boards around front, okay? We'll stow 'em in the garage and then go wash up and get lunch organized."

"Sure!" Grace made a beeline for the side of the house and Kono followed, relieved to see that Grace was too busy with her board to have noticed a thing.

~~*~~

Danny had been standing on the lanai watching Grace and Kono make their last run and start up the beach when Steve was suddenly there behind him.

"My heart's still in my throat half the time she's out there," Danny said, hooking an arm over the arm Steve wrapped around him, feeling Steve leaning into him.

"Danny...." Something heavy was in that voice, and the way only one arm was around him? It made Danny's stomach fall a little. "You might... uh, want to take a deep breath and count to ten."

Danny turned to see Steve looking down at the ground. He handed him an envelope, a letter several pages long and Danny knew before he flipped it open what he was going to read there.

"It's okay," Danny barely scanned the deployment notice, handed it right back to him. "So, you leave in a month? We'll still have something like, what, nineteen weeks ahead of us and…."

"If I miss it... , _God,_ I don't want to miss it." Steve sank into Danny when Danny stepped in to pull him close, let his chin fall over Danny's shoulder. "How are you so calm about this?"

"Would it help if I jumped up and down and got pissed off and ranted?" 

The question was rhetorical; he didn't expect an answer as he ran a hand up and down Steve's back. 

"I'm learning to go with the flow a lot more lately, babe. Think that's pretty much all your fault."

Steve couldn't help thinking it was true; as unsure and jumpy as Danny had been at first, every week since he'd grown more sure, more excited about their future.

"I’m glad you can be so calm right now," Steve stepped back, eyeing the letter like he still couldn't believe it. "'Cause all I can think of is 'what if'." 

"They say old married couples get to be more alike," Danny took his arm, pulled him in toward the house. "C'mon, let's go get some food and talk about it."

~~*~~

“Danny, can you hear me?” Steve was getting mostly a whining warble over the satellite phone. 

Danny’s first, tentative ‘hello’ had skipped around his ear three times sounding half a hollow planet away, which it was.

“Where are you?” Danny said the words slowly, punching each one – he must be hearing the same feedback. 

Steve hoped the call would hold out at all. Wished he could answer Danny’s question. It was his first chance to call home in a month. Might be his only call home for weeks longer.

Where was he? They’d sailed and then flown and parachuted into one location, hiked to another and met up with a convoy and now…. It was all desert and ditches and tiny villages they only tore through in a hurry, no time to stop, not safe to, either. Most of the work so far was scouting and gathering intel. It felt like they’d be there forever.

It felt like working on the moon. 

“How is everyone?” Steve asked.

In the pause before Danny spoke he pictured them all the last time he’d seen them; standing by the car in the parking lot at the base, sending him off. It was Grace’s first time at this. She’d given him a big hug and then loped back to Kono, almost seeming to hide under her arm. Kono had hugged her close, throwing Steve a kiss before heading them back into the car to wait for Danny.

Danny had held him like he was memorizing the feeling; them balanced against each other. Had kissed him like he was recording the taste, the sensation.

“Everyone is… okay.” Danny told him now.

And just like that, either the satellite moving or the weather clearing somewhere; the interference went away and if he closed his eyes Danny was right there.

“How about the truth, now, D?” 

He was a very good detective, but a pretty horrible liar. 

“Kono’s on bed rest, babe. Don’t worry, we’re taking _really_ good care of her….”

A string of words he’d never heard peppered the rest of Danny’s explanation: Edema, threat of pre-eclampsia, possible induced, early delivery….

“Is she going to be okay?” Steve tried to get back to the only questions that mattered, that he could possibly understand the answers to right now with no web access to look all of it up.

“Absolutely, because we won’t let it be any other way. Listen, this is what the overtime budget is for at work: We brought in help, Chin’s pretty much running the place and I’m running this situation. We will all get through it fine. Got it? We miss you, though. So much.”

Danny trying to change the subject. It worked; Steve heard the subtext in his voice, got a flash of the night before he’d left and the hour long, full-body kiss in their bed, him rocking into Danny like they’d never have this again. The sounds Danny had made that night suggested the same thought was crossing his brain.

“Miss you….too.” 

The last word was only to himself – the connection gone.

Steve walked back toward the line of trucks and vans that was their home for now.

“Better luck to you than I had, buddy,” Steve handed the sat phone to the next guy waiting his turn. “And better news.”

There were a dozen weeks left, at most – and he hadn’t missed those words, ‘early delivery’. 

He walked to the perimeter of their camp and watched the moonlight on the hills in the distance for distraction and it helped, drinking in something timeless.

Whatever would happen would happen, and all that was in his control was to hope for the best.


	6. Wish You Were Here

“ _There_ you are! I was worried sick. Woah, woah, what are you doing?” 

Danny had come home for a late lunch hour to find the house empty. Now he raced toward where Kono was coming in the door with two heavy-looking bags full of groceries dangling from each hand. His gaze was somewhat divided between her and Grace as Grace raced behind Kono toward their shared room, clearly in tears.

“C’mon, Danny, no worries; it’s just a few things…” 

Kono dropped her wallet and keys on the kitchen counter when they got there, one hand going to her back and the other to the beach ball-sized curve of her belly.

She’d had to give up jeans for sundresses some time ago. Danny knew that was no small sacrifice – and far from the only one that was giving her agita these days.

“You’re supposed to be on bed rest.”

“Yeah,” Kono said. “That’ll be awesome for my blood pressure, won’t it; me out flat, with nothing to do? I may be more rested horizontally but… I’ll pull all my hair out. And you don’t want to see me bald.”

“You’d be beautiful bald. You’d be beautiful any way you…”

“Don’t humor me, Danny,” she headed for the living room sofa. “Listen, I swear Grace was in a fine mood this morning and then sometime after school she got kind of mopey. The sobbing didn’t start ‘til just now when she saw you, which tells me she wants you to pull it out of her, whatever’s on her mind, right?”

“Oh, God…” Danny had forgotten for a moment, something that never would have happened thirty-two weeks ago. In his defense, he thought, there had been a hell of a lot to juggle. He tossed the items that needed refrigerating randomly into said receptacle and headed for Grace’s room. “Be right….”

“Take your time.” she groaned in relief as she kicked her shoes off and slid back onto the cushions. “We’ll want a full report, the three of us, when you get the answer.”

~~*~~

“Sweetie?” Danny stepped gingerly into the room, sat slowly down next to Grace’s prone form. 

She had her face buried in her pillow and though she wasn’t sobbing anymore she clearly had been.

“Are you going to make me ask you what’s wrong? Or are you gonna cut us both a break and tell your Danno?”

It might not help to cut to the chase, but he didn’t see how it could make things any worse. The hunch paid off when Grace sat up, taking her pillow with her and pinning it to her knees with her chin, arms wrapping around it.

“C’mon, kiddo…” he rubbed her back. “Spill.”

“What if… what if the babies don’t like me?”

“What?” Danny wanted to jump up and burst out laughing, wanted to do a dance of joyous relief but he held it in. “Geez, I was afraid maybe you weren’t ready for this, you know? ‘Cause they’re so close to coming, and I was thinking maybe you’re bumming about it, having to be big sister…”

“No!” Grace looked as close to pissed as she’d ever been at him, head tilted sideways on her pillow glaring at him, eyes red. “I can’t wait! But Amanda said…”

“Amanda as in ‘bitchy Amanda, mean girl from hell’ at school who I asked you…no, begged you to please ditch from your life asap?”

“Her mom had twins and they’re six now and she says they hate her and all they do is fight with her and make her life miserable. What if….”

“Monkey, there is no way in hell that’s going to happen.”

“How can you be sure?” she asked, and the little shake in her voice at the question made him have to take a deep breath before answering just to keep his voice even.

“Because you can’t wait to meet them, right?” he asked and Grace nodded. “And you’re going to help take care of them – diapers and feedings and rocking them to sleep, and when they get bigger you’ll make up games for them, just so you can hear them laugh. They will absolutely be two of your favorite people in the whole world, ever. And guess what?”

“What?” Grace asked softly, her attention clearly grabbed.

“When they get bigger, they won’t remember even one tenth of those moments.” 

He saw her gaze go perplexed again, frustrated, and he took her hand and set it on his own heart and he saw her eyes well with comprehension. 

“They’ll know it here, though. They will absolutely know deep down in their hearts how much you love them. And Grace, I promise… they will _adore_ you.”

“How do you know?”

“Worked with you, didn’t it?” Danny asked, and now it was getting hard to keep it together. “Despite everything that happened with your mom and me, you love us both, right? And that’s because deep down, you know how much we both…”

He never got the rest of the words out – and thankfully, he didn’t need to. It was the first time Grace had hugged him like that in forever, arms and legs locked around him, pressed to him like she’d never let him go and he rocked her until her tears stopped again.

~~*~~

Danny had cooked dinner and cleared the dishes, then left Kono and Grace enjoying a movie to walk down to the beach and sit in one of the chairs, alone, watching the water.

He watched until his eyes closed and then he heard it, Steve’s voice, like he was channeling it from three or five or eight thousand miles away.

“You’re doing an incredible job, babe.”

“Am I?” Danny asked, eyes opening slowly, his gaze staying on the water. “There is … a whole lot of estrogen in that house right now and I am so not equipped for it.”

“You know you are. You’re super dad. Show me a dad who’s better than you?”

“Our kids…” Danny cut in. “If we’re lucky they’re eight weeks from their first good cry. Or…they could be here almost any day. It’s been damn near eight weeks since I’ve heard your voice and… I know it’s stupid of me, but I’ve started bracing myself for never hearing it again. I miss it so goddamn bad and I feel … selfish. Because it’s not about the babies or Kono or Grace or anyone else, the degree of me missing you. It’s… wow, I just wish you were here. So much.”

“No news is good news, D.” came the answer. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah. So I’ve heard.”

“It’ll be okay. We’ll all be okay…”

The wind picked up and Danny shivered, and against his better judgment looked left at the chair that was, of course, empty and he sighed a shuddering sigh.

“From your lips to God’s ear, babe.”


	7. Too Late

“Germany?” Danny asked into the phone.

The grin on Kono’s face from over on the sofa looked as wide as his felt. Grace was dancing around the living room like a flailing butterfly, because even to a tween pretty unversed in the ways of this whole world of deployment, the location told her ‘home – he’s coming home.’

“Ramstein,” Steve said it again, having heard the call wavering in and out a little, too. Three nights here, some debriefings and then…how is….”

“Kono’s good. Want to talk with her?”

“Wish I could. We just landed, we’re pulling up to the intake area. Can I call you soon, talk with her and Grace?”

“Do you want to know about the sonogram?” Danny barreled forward. “Steve, we know… which names we can use. You know what I mean?”

“Aw, D… you _caved_?”

They’d agreed not to ask for details beyond ‘healthy’ but, yeah, Danny found when faced with the opportunity to learn the full facts, the detective in him _had_ to know. 

“Don’t be too pissed at me, please. I mean how could I not? Plus, we’ll still have the surprise of whether the girl is mine and the boy yours or….”

“ _Ohhhh_ …..” Danny felt bad at the way Steve gasped it; happy and riveted and sad he wasn’t there to hear it in person. “I’ve gotta…”

“I know. Call us tonight if you can, okay?”

~~*~~

There was no call that night or the next morning or afternoon. They knew he would call if he could. Knew he was safer than he’d been in the seventeen weeks since he’d been gone. Still….

Danny was wrapped up enough in worry and work and the needs of their house and Grace that he didn’t notice it until he walked on the back porch after dinner and found Kono standing there, swaying, sighing and rocking and looking like she was willing something away.

“Hey,” he got her attention gently with a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”

“I think so,” she said back, looking about eighty percent convinced. “I think maybe we should call the doc tomorrow. Not feeling bad enough to panic, but…. I’m off. More than average, I guess.”

“Forget tomorrow, let’s call her now…”

“No,” Kono willed a stronger smile on her face. “I don’t think we have to go there.”

 

~~*~~

“Heads up!” Steve shouted to no one and everyone in his path, flying through the airport on feet moving so fast he couldn’t really feel them.

His commanding officer had taken one bleary look at Steve’s face in his doorway at zero dark thirty and hailed him a cab, signed him the paperwork excusing him from the rest of the debriefing.

“Watch out!” Steve took a sharp right. Three minutes; that’s what he had left to cross an entire terminal and make the flight to New York that connected with the flight to Honolulu…

He could still hear Danny’s voice in his deeply asleep and very confused ear an hour ago.

_“Babe… don’t panic, but… we’re at the hospital. Kono’s comfortable. It’s only a matter of hours, though, before this starts. Her doctor would rather give her meds to keep the labor off a bit, a few more days or a week, but he says he doesn’t dare. So… it’s on. I’m so sorry, Steve, I think you’re….”_

He overshot the ticket desk he was running so fast, circled back the three steps feeling sick, just in time to see the agent shaking her head. So apologetic. So very sorry.

“I can’t… I _have_ to be on that plane,” he waved to where he saw the visible signs of the jet way about to pull away. “My children, they’re… about to be born and I.. if there’s _any_ way I can… _please_ … please….”

He expected a lecture about rules and security and flight restrictions and hell that was probably what he’d have done. But something in his wilted stance, the look on his face, appeared to hit home.

“Frank…” she was on the two way radio rather than the phone to the cockpit, it was that close. “Hold up. Yes, seriously. Got a real _VIP_ here, you know? Orders from above, not my call or I’d tell him to shove off….”

Steve kissed her face so hard on the way to the plane she barely kept her footing. 

“Janine’s my name,” he heard her call behind him. “Pictures would be nice, if you could maybe mail them? I’m pretty much always here. Like, seriously, always.”

~~*~~

_“Sorry, sir …. Weather, you know? A dozen flights backed up and then all landing at once…”_

The wait in line for a cab from the airport would be nearly two hours. The shuttles to the hotels would take even longer. 

The distance between the airport and the Queen’s Medical Center? Five point nine miles. 

Steve didn’t dare take the time to call Danny, to answer the text on his phone that said ‘where are you, we’re close here… any hope?”

He tossed his carry-on into a garbage bin next to the taxi line and started running.

~~*~~

An empty hospital room. R423 in the maternity wing and assigned to Ms. K. Kalakaua. 

No Kono, no Danny. Just an empty bed with the sheets flung back like everyone had left in a hurry.

Steve turned from the doorway looking for a chair to collapse on in defeat… and nearly ran over the tiniest nurse he’d ever seen. For a second he’d thought it was Grace.

“Commander… McGarrett?” She clearly wasn’t sure the sweating, heaving mess in front of her met the description she’d been given.

“Yeah,” he barely got the word out, heard how hopeless it sounded. 

“Come on!” and suddenly she was pulling at his hand, running from a standstill. “They just took Ms. K to the delivery room. If we hurry….”

Steve sobbed out a deeply amused laugh. 

If we hurry….

“How far is it?” He asked.

The nurse pointed, and they were probably fifty yards out.

“Danny!” he shouted.

“Babe! Get the hell over here!”

Not too late. He was not too late at all.


	8. Clean

Danny was so busy walking back into Kono’s room with coffee and water and sandwiches and cookies, and some ice cream for Grace, that he didn’t see it at first. Until he did. Then he nearly dropped the tray at all the _pretty_ in front of him.

“Aliikai…” Grace was leaning forward, petting her new sister’s face and toying with the long curl on her dark forehead. “What does that mean?”

Steve had both babies in one arm, kicked back in the lounger, holding them so that Grace could examine them closely. Kono? She was deeply out in the bed a yard away.

“It means ‘Queen of the Sea,’ Steve said, a thumb running over his daughter’s cheek.

“And Keanu?” Grace turned her attention to her new brother.

“His name means ‘chill breeze.’” Steve said, leaning in to kiss the auburn headed boy; his locks were a clear combination of Danny’s blonde and Kono’s black hair.

“Hey,” Danny set the tray down and handed Grace her ice cream. “Time to eat up.”

“Hey, babe,” Steve relaxed back a bit more and Danny wished Grace weren’t there so he could tell him how fucking hot it was, the sight of Steve with an arm full of babies. “You missed something….”

“What?” Danny asked.

“Keanu…. Um… overfilled a diaper.” Grace explained between bites, apparently already able to separate the day-to-day baby issues from her enjoyment of food. “We gave them a bath. While you were gone.”

Their first bath. Danny smiled but shook his head at the same time, a hand running over Grace’s head. 

“It’s fine, monkey... there’ll be a ton more baths to come.”

He gave Steve a look that told him he was glad they’d had that little moment together.

“Is Kono ever gonna wake up?” Grace asked.

“She’s had a long day. And then some serious pain killers,” Danny said as Grace headed Kono’s way, still eating her ice cream but sitting close by her for company. “Better let her sleep, okay?”

“I will, Danno.”

Steve let Danny transfer possession of the babies to Danny’s arms, then grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water from the tray.

“Hey, D,” he murmured, looking over at Grace and Kono, and then back to his partner and their new arrivals. “Does it get any better than this?”

Danny just reached his face up for a kiss and then dipped down to bury his lips by the babies’ heads, drinking in the warm, sweet smell of freshly bathed newborn. 

He didn’t answer in words, because none were really needed.

~~*~~

The next time Danny had both of his babies in his arms, Steve was in the front seat with Grace, and Kono was in the back seat helping Danny fasten them into car seats.

They looked so impossibly tiny. Danny swallowed hard, willing back tears. 

It wasn’t that the seats were uncomfortable for them or anything; they were plush. It was just….less than twenty hours since they’d arrived and Kono still looked like a nap was in her immediate future and…. _so_ many feelings.

“It’s okay, beautiful…” Aliikai was looking perturbed, but Kono murmuring by her ear calmed her. “No worries, baby… you’re going home. We’re all going home…”

Together. That was one thing they’d decided, in this brand new day. They would be a unit of six for some time to come. 

Danny had worried how Grace would take it, Kono staying in their home for weeks, months, maybe longer, having to share a room? She’d looked at her Danno like maybe he’d lost his mind…. How could any of them go home alone? Without each other? Or the babies? That was impossible. Unthinkable.

It was the moment they all knew… they’d be fine. Together.


End file.
